Betty Crockerin' it!

Well with the holidays coming around and me being at home all the time now, I have just turned into a little Miss Betty Crocker! I have a few recipies that I'm gonna share with you now. Hope you enjoy. They are sooooo easy to make. The kids have helped make some of them and love it!

Cool Whip Cookies

1 pkg cake mix - flavor of your choice (for the coconut cream pie ones I used Coconut Supreme from Duncan Hines)
8 oz cool whip
1 egg

Mix all ingredients together, will be thick mixture. Roll into small balls (may want to powder hands before) then roll balls in powdered sugar. Place on cookie sheet (I put it on wax paper) bake on 350 for 8-12 min depending on oven. They will still be a little soft so let cool completely.

Butterfingers

1 box cheez its
1 pkg chocolate almond bark
peanut butter

Make cracker sandwiches using entire box. Melt almond bark (I use glass bowl in microwave for about 3 minutes) Dip sandwiches in chocolate covering completely. (I have found it easiest to drop sandwich in bowl then using a spoon swirl chocolate over cracker then gently pick up on corners, you get more chocolate on your sandwiches this way too!) Then lay on sheet of wax paper to set up.

Graham Cracker Yum Yums

1 pkg graham crackers
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 to 1 cup peanut butter (depending on tastes, I prefer closer to 1 cup, also we have only used creamy I haven't tried crunchy, yet!)
1 pkg MILK chocolate chips

Lay wax paper on cookie sheet then add a single layer of graham crackers. In a saucepan melt butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until syrupy. Pour over graham crackers, covering completely. Pour bag of chocolate chips evenly over mixture. Bake 350 for 5 minutes. Spread chocolate chips with back of spoon then put in refridgerator to set up. Break apart and enjoy!

I can't take credit for any of these I have gotten them from various websites or friends but I have used them for a while and love them! Also I have changed the originals around just a bit to suit our tastes just a bit.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know how they go!

Thankful Thursday

I'm trying something new! I'm trying to be more thankful for the things that I do have and trying not to dwell on what I don't have. So each Thursday I will be posting at least three things that I am thankful for. I hope you'll follow along and not get too bored by my lack of "wordiness" :)

My Family
Yes, I know this is a given, but somedays I need to remind myself that I am extremely blessed that God has given me the family that He has. They are my everything and I would be completely lost without them. They drive me crazy, but also teach me that there are more things to learn and be thankful for each and every day!

Fall
This is my favorite time of year. I love being able to sit outside on my front porch without sweating like crazy and actually enjoy being out there. I can't wait for all the trees to start changing colors. In my opinion that is just one more way of God showing us the love He has for us. Just take a look at all the colors and amazingly beautiful art that He has spread around and tell me that He didn't create all this for us! AWESOME!

My mom
She is amazing. She is my hero. I have no clue where I would be without her. She has been through so much over the last 5 years with her MS and I could never imagine how I would deal with some of the things she has had to overcome. She is the bestest momma anyone could EVER ask for! And I didn't even have to ask :)

Update on our Homeschool venture

Well, hmm....we were going to start in January as you remember, however, due to some goofy school officials telling us some things that we were VERY unpleased with we are going to turn in our Intent form ASAP and start as soon as our waiting period is over! Wow! I'm definitely nervous now. I have some online cirriculum already ready for the kids to start but I guess I'm gonna be going to the library, and soon, to get some info books! Oh wait, crap I have a fine, guess I'll be paying that then getting some books :) Anyway just wanted to give you an update and ask for your ferverent prayers!!!! I'm gonna need them. Please don't just pray for me, pray for the kids as well. The oldest especially, she is having a really hard time with it. She told us "I don't wanna do homeschool!" She is pretty much scared about losing all of her friends at school (in my humble opinion, most of them wouldn't be a bad thing ;)) However, she is still gonna need prayers for her to be receptive to my teaching. Thanks all! Have a wonderful day!

We're Gonna Homeschool!!!

So if you read my last entry you know that I had been doing a lot of praying about homeschooling our children. I approached the older kids' mom several hours after I wrote the last post and she said she would think about it. Honestly, I didn't think anything else would ever be said about it. Well after talking about things for several weeks and sending her numerous online resources, statistics, etc., she told me tonight, We won't ever know until we try!" Praise the Lord! I am beside myself with excitement of getting to educate my children. However, that excitement has quickly been replaced with anxiety, doubt, and tons of other emotions as we have planned to let the kids finish this semester and begin homeschooling in January.

So now I need your help! I have been looking at several websites the last few months and it is really overwhelming. I know I have to turn in my intent form to the superintendent, but really, what next? I have a few cirriculum options that I am looking at and have actually been doing some preparing the last several weeks because I had this nagging feeling (thanks God) that I was DEFINITELY going to be homeschooling the kids. Well now I know I am and now more than ever I am doubting myself. I know that God has told us that we are supposed to do this so I know He will give me what I am supposed to do, but finances are VERY limited so we can't just go out and buy a full set of cirriculum for 3 kids. That would be really, really expensive from what I have seen. So I'm looking and have found a few free lessons that look really interesting that I think the kids will do well with that I'm going to try but I want to do a mixture of hands on and book stuff. Ok so I'm beginning to ramble a lot so I'll back off for now....but in the meantime.......HELP!!!! :) and thanks!

Judge Roy Moore

I recieved this in an email and thought I would share. Lets keep Judge Roy in our prayers as well as our country.

He hits the nail squarely on the head!

____________________________________________________________ AlabamaJudge
Some of you may be wondering what Judge Roy Moore has been doing since he was removed from the bench for refusing to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom wall. Please read the poem he wrote.


The following is a poem written by Judge Roy Moore from Alabama . Judge Moore was sued by the ACLU for displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom foyer. He has been stripped of his judgeship and now they are trying to strip his right to practice law in Alabama ! The judge's poem sums it up quite well.

America the beautiful,

Or so you used to be.

Land of the Pilgrims' pride;

I'm glad they'll never see..

Babies piled in dumpsters,

Abortion on demand,

Oh, sweet land of liberty;

Your house is on the sand.

Our children wander aimlessly

Poisoned by cocaine

Choosing to indulge their lusts,

When God has said abstain

From sea to shining sea,

Our Nation turns away

From the teaching of God's love

And a need to always pray

We've kept God in ourTemples,

how callous we have grown.

When earth is but His footstool,

And Heaven is His throne.

We've voted in a governmentt

hat's rotting at the core,

Appointing Godless Judges;

Who throw reason out the door,

Too soft to place a killer

In a well deserved tomb,

But brave enough to kill a baby

Before he leaves the womb.

You think that God's notAngry,

that our land's a moral slum?

How much longer will He wait

Before His judgment comes?

How are we to face our God,

From Whom we cannot hide?

What then is left for us to do,

But stem this evil tide?

If we who are His children,

Will humbly turn and pray;

Seek His holy face

And mend our evil way:

Then God will hear from Heaven;

And forgive us of our sins,

He'll heal our sickly land

And those who live within.

But, America the Beautiful,

If you don't - then you will see,

A sad but Holy God

Withdraw His hand from Thee..

~~Judge Roy Moore~~

Homeschooling

Well, it's that time of year again. School is getting ready to start, the big yellow busses are getting ready to start clogging up the highways again. We went to the kids' open house at the schools tonight and it discouraged me so much.

Charlie and I have had very heavy hearts the last few weeks regarding us homeschooling Brookelyn. We have spent much time in prayer about this and have decided that that is what God is telling us that we need to do with her. So, in my not wanting to disobey my Heavenly Father, that is what we are going to do. Granted, she is only 1 and there are still years left before she should actually begin school...but doesn't learning begin from birth? So anyhow, due to the situation with the other 3 children, living part-time with their mom we're not sure how everything is supposed to work here.

We are feeling the need to homeschool them as well but don't know how she would take even the suggestion of this. We are praying earnestly about this situation and would welcome your prayers as well.

I whole-heartedly believe that God is calling me to homeschool my children because of a conversation I had with some friends a few weeks back saying there was "NO WAY" I could ever do that! God apparently has other plans for us and as inadequet as I feel about holding my child's education in my hands I know that if God is calling us to do this then He will supply me with the knowledge that I need to educate my child the way that He sees fit.

Please continue to keep our family in your prayers as we embark on this journey!!! This is going to take ALOT of discipline on my part as I am NOT organized at all and know that I will need to be way more organized than I am for this. I like to plan things so maybe that will help some? Anyway, I will let you go for now, just wanted you to know that I covet your prayers and am pretty excited to see what God has in store for our family!

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

Ok here are some coupons that I am needing. I have several for trade if anyone is interested. All that I have for trade are from this week and last weeks inserts. Shoot me an email if you need anything.


FOOD
Cereal - Any
Lipton TeaCountry
Crock Butter
Blue Bonnet Stick Butter
Cheese - any sliced and/or shredded
Sugar
Hot Dogs
Lunchmeat - any
Pasta
Pasta Sauce
Tortillas
Green Giant Steamers
Any other food that you might not need - we usually don't use frozen foods though

BABY

Diapers - we prefer Luvs but will take any
J&J Bath products
Infant Tylenol or Motrin
Infant teething gel

HEALTH & BEAUTY

Shampoo - any
Razors - any
Deodorant - any
Toothpaste/toothbrushes - any
Pads/Tampons - any but prefer always and kotex

OTHER HOUSEHOLD

Charmin Toilet Paper
Any cleaning supplies
Any Glade
Dawn dish soap
Batteries
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (I am in love with this!!!)

BOGO's or Free's are ALWAYS accepted!!! :)

Need school shoes? Check this out!

WOW! There is a HUGE sale going on over here at Shoesteal. All the kids shoes are up to 90% off. Prices are starting as low as $1.80! And, there are no kids shoes over $19.99! Thanks Denise!

Now, you can make this an even sweeter deal if you are a member of Cashbaq. If you shop through the Cashbaq site you can earn an extra 5% on your purchase!

If you haven't ever used Cashbaq before you can get $5.00 just for signing up. Plus you get instant rebates on purchases from thousands of popular online retailers. This is sooo worth signing up! You can sign up here and then search for shoe steal and click on the coupon. You must go to Shoe steal through the Cashbaq site in order to receive your rebate. Happy Shopping!

Be a Mom Tester for Parenting Magazine

You can go here and learn all about being a product tester for items moms use most for their kids. They even have occasional items for moms!!! It's totally free to sign up and while I can't promise you will get stuff all the time, it's worth it to sign up and get an occasional free product for the kids or yourself.

Kmart Double Days

Well, Kmart is doing another Double event. This month it is going to be August 16-22 at participating stores. I have seen some lists of participating stores floating around on Hot Coupon World so you might check there if you don't know if your store will participate.

I wasn't sure and couldn't find where ours was so I just emailed corporate and once again our store is NOT participating. They apparently don't feel there is enough interest for double coupon events in this area....HA HA....they are mistaken!

I don't know about any of you but I am getting frustrated reading all my blogs and everyone else gets to do Kmart Doubles and we rarely get to get in on the action. SO...I am urging all of you if you haven't already to email Kmart corporate and let them know of your interest in our local store participating in the Doubles events! Thanks ladies Happy Shopping

FREE ICE CREAM!!! (almost)

Did you get your free order from Schwans' today? If you don't know what I'm talking about, Schwan's is offering a FREE purchase up to 10.00 for the first 500,000 new customers. You can go to the Schwan's website and sign up...It's super easy. Although I will warn you, I did have to pay a delivery charge of.....$.06. And it gave me the option to pay that when my delivery comes...so yay for not having to charge 6 cents to my debit card!!!! Ice cream has become a delicacy in our house because we have to shop smart and get groceries that will last for some time, so being able to get this for the kids will make their day! Happy Shopping!

BROOKIE IS 1!!!!!

My baby girl turned 1 today! I am a little sad, but only because she isn't the tiny little bundle that I can sit and rock all day. But I am thrilled that I am getting to experience all the new things she learns each and every day. Last night I was looking at a picture of me holding her shortly after she was born and I just broke out into tears. How sad is that? Oh well...I'm fine now. LOL
We are having her birthday party Saturday for friends and family but decided to do a little cake for her tonight. It was great. She was sooooo funny. I will leave you with a few pics.

For some reason they are in reverse order, but you get the gist!

Some deals I found at Save-A-Lot

Just got back from doing a little grocery shopping and thought I would share some deals I found.
The Fresh Express salad mixes are on sale for .89. There are .50 peelies on them making them .49 for a nice dinner salad.

I'm usually not too keen on buying my meat from there but we're running pretty low on cash right now so I must make sacrifices. Anywho, they had several packs of pork chops, pork steak, and pork roasts with 1 and 2 dollar off coupons on them...I spent a total of 38.00 and got about 5 packages of pretty decent meat in there.

They also had their store brand of real butter (salted) for 1.99....not too bad.

Don't forget you can go to their website here and sign up for the Smart Shopper club and get a $5 off $20 purchase. I didn't get to print mine off today because my printer is messed up but still not a bad deal!

Happy Shopping!

It's been awhile

HI!!! I'm back. We have been having some financial difficulties as of late and our internet was shut off for awhile. But we're back up and running! Things are nowhere near where we need to be but we are slowly & surely getting there and we have faith that God will provide for us. I wanted to share with you one of my favorite money saving tips today. For about the last 5 months I have been making my own laundry detergent. Now I was very skeptical the first time I heard about this because we are die hard Tide fans :) But we have been very pleased and in fact I personally like it BETTER than Tide. (shh...don't tell my husband) The recipe is as follows:



Gather these first:

5 gallon bucket with lid

Borax

Washing soda (not baking)

1 bar of soap (we have been using Dove & Dial some people like Fels-Naptha, it's really up to you and your preferences)



Fill your bucket with 3 gallons of water then stir in 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of the Washing soda.
Grate your bar of soap then in a saucepan dissolve it. To melt the soap fill the saucepan with 2-3 cups of water and melt it in that (just don't let it boil because it will burn the soap).
When your soap is dissolved pour that into your bucket and mix everything together. Now fill the rest of the bucket up with water and presto! You've got yourself some laundry soap!
My suggestion for easier use is to keep an old detergent container on hand and pour your mixture in there.
Also, you may want to give the bottle a little shake before using to make sure some of the stuff didn't settle to the bottom. Oh, and this will get a gel-like consistency...that is fine.
You won't see many suds either because this is a very low sudsing mixture, which also means it works great in high effeciency machines, which we have.
Let me know how it works for you!

Wow...

Ok so this last month has been really crazy for me. First my daughter came down with pink eye so I was stuck at home with her for 2 days. The second day, I came down with pink eye and the flu....what fun. Thankfully she was ok but I was out of commission for about a week. So there was a week of work that I missed. I go back and work one day and as I am leaving I get a text from my mom saying my grandma is in the hospital and they don't think she will make it through the night. Now there is alot of background here that I won't go into but my grandma and I used to be really, really close then my grandpa passed away, she remarried and I only seen and talked to her rarely. I still felt the need to go visit her at the hospital. The hospital she was at is only about 5 minutes from my office so I got up there, of course she is in ICU and visiting hours are over, so I beg the nurse and they let me in. I was very thankful for the few minutes that they gave me with her because that was the last time I would ever hear her make a sound or see her with her eyes open. She did make through that night so I stayed at the hospital the next day and she passed away March 26, 2009 around 6pm. That was a very long day. The night before I only slept about an hour worrying about everything. So then I was out of work for another 3 days. Wow that's 1 1/2 weeks already. I go back to work that following Tuesday then that Sunday my daughter comes down with a really high fever. So of course we end up at the ER. The do a ton of tests and don't really figure anything out but send us home with antibiotics and tell us to follow up with her Dr. in the morning. So the next morning we go see her Dr. and he looks her over, looks over the tests and says there are a few things with her urine test that look a little suspicious but we won't know anything for sure until Wednesday...ugh..so keep taking the antibiotics, keep doing Tylenol/Motrin for her fever. He did tell us she still might run a fever through the night. Ok fine, she's gonna have a slight fever is what I'm thinking at this point. No, around 8pm I go to take her temp again and she is BURNING UP. I was scared to death as the thermometer kept going higher and higher. It finally stopped at 105.8. No, that's not a typo. Oh, and she is 8 months old, very scary. So back to the ER we go. After a couple hours of trying to get her fever down, the Dr., who I'm not fond of, that's another story, tells us she has developed an ear infection. Oh goodness what else can happen? is what I'm thinking at this point. So I stay with her the next day and she was fever free all day, Thank God. The Dr. calls the next day and says all of her cultures and tests came back perfectly fine, so they think Sunday was the start of her ear infection it just wasn't visible until Monday when we went to the ER. She has been doing fine since and I'm very thankful for that. I just hope and pray that Satan is going to lay off of us for a while. If you weren't counting that was a total of 2 1/2 weeks of work I missed. Oh and did I mention I was the only one working during this time...yes very stressful. Thankfully my husband got a job and started this past Friday. I'm not thrilled about his hours, Friday - Tuesday, which means he works EVERY weekend but it's a job and I am SO much less stressed...yes I am still stressing over stuff but now I can have a little peace about some of our life. Sorry this was so long but I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't left, just been crazy. Which also hasn't left much time for shopping. But we will get back and I'll be back full force. Thanks for listening!

My Coupon Wish List

So I have been MIA the last couple weeks, between my daughter and I being sick then as soon as I get well and get back to work I find out my grandma is in the hospital and they don't expect her to make it. She passed away this past Thursday very peacefully with loved ones surrounding her. We buried her yesterday. I was thankful to get to see some family that I haven't seen in quite some time although I hate the circumstances but it was still nice to see them. Anyway, I have gotten quite low on my coupon stash since the last couple weeks I haven't been very vigilant in dealing with the paper, so here is my plea for help. I know some, or most of you get the paper and may or may not use all of the coupons...well if you ever come across some of these and want to send them my way you can contact me here @ shannaedawn@gmail.com Here is my list of things that we use on a regular basis, also anytime you come across a baby product coupon you can always send it this way...I'm sure I can put it to good use! :)

FOOD
Cereal – Any
Lipton Tea
Country Crock Butter
Blue Bonnet Stick Butter
Cheese – any sliced and/or shredded
Sugar
Hot Dogs
Lunchmeat – any
Pasta
Pasta Sauce
Tortillas
Green Giant Steamers
Any other food that you might not need – we usually don’t use frozen foods though

BABY
Diapers – we prefer Luvs but if you have the $2.00 Q from Wags pharm book I would love that too!
Any high $ formula checks
Baby Cereal
J&J Bath products
Infant Tylenol or Motrin
Infant teething gel

HEALTH & BEAUTY
Shampoo – any
Razors – any but would love Fusion blade refills
Q-Tips
Deodorant – any
Toothpaste/toothbrushes – any
Pads/Tampons – any but prefer always and kotex
KY product
Revlon Beauty tool

OTHER HOUSEHOLD
Charmin Toilet Paper
Any cleaning supplies
Any size Tide or any other laundry detergent
Any Glade
Dawn dish soap
Batteries
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (I am in love with this!!!)
As always any BOGO’s or Free’s are ALWAYS accepted!!!

20 free prints at Kodak

Kodak photo gallery is offering 20 free prints for new customers. You can go here and register and upload your photos. The cost for your 20 prints will be deducted after you checkout, before you enter your card information. You do have to pay for shipping but I just did mine and paid $1.50. Not too bad of a deal I don't think!

Free McDonalds Sandwich

Thanks to Denise for finding this one. You can go to the site she has listed on her website here and fill in your information and with a purchase of a McCafe coffee get a free sandwich!

Walgreens Tonight

Ok so I needed some formula for the baby so I figured a way to get it pretty cheap. If you read my last blog you'll know that I got a $5.00 RR from the cashier the last time I was in. WOOHOO!!!! So I got another coupon for the Sambucol and here's how I did:

1 can Enfimil Lipil 13.49

1 Glade Lasting Impressions 7.99

1 Sambucol 10.99

1 Thingamijig candy bar (filler) .69

Total 33.16 + tax

Used:

5.00 RR

4.00 mfg Q for Glade 4.00 ESC glade

10.00 ESC Sambucol 4.00 mfg Sambucol

Total after taxes 8.72 (tax was 2.56)

I was pretty excited...DH was too! I think he's starting to get that it's a good thing for me to like coupons!

Walgreens Today

Ok so I went to Walgreens this morning after church and did pretty darn good. I didn't follow my plan exactly as I mentioned in my last post but here's what I did:
Transaction 1:
2 Huggies Natural Fit diapers $20
1 Huggies Gentle Care wipes $6 (actually rang up at 5.99)
1 Garnier Fructis 2.99
1 Edge shaving gel 1.99
Total 30.97
-2.00 Wags Q & 1.00 manf Q for Garnier
-6.00 Huggies Natural Fit (had 2 of these @ 3.00 each)
-5.00 Huggies gentle care
Total 16.97
- 10.00 RR from dove deal earlier in the week
6.97 + tax total OOP 9.76

Transaction 2
1 Fructis shampoo 2.99
1 Sambucol 10.99
1 Huggies Gentle care wipes 5.99
2 Huggies natural fit diapers 20.00
2 candy bars 2/1.00 (fillers)
Total 40.97
-10.00 ESC Q -4.00 IP for Sambucol (got overage!)
-2.00 ESC Q - 1.00 mfg q for Garnier
-5.00 Q for wipes
-6.00 Huggies natural fit (2 @ 3.00)
Total 12.97 + tax
-10.00 RR from previous Huggies deal...yeah I knew I wouldn't get another RR but I only had 20.00 on me and had to use it
Total 2.97 + tax
Here's the kicker...I wasn't paying much attention and when she told me the total I just handed her the money thinking man I must have miscalculated because that seems awfully high. She told me my total was 15.53. So I pay get the kids and stuff loaded in the car, drive the 1/2 mile home and take some excedrin and start looking over my reciept. I got charged for 3 yes count them 3 diapers...thats an extra 10.00. I told my husband I'm going back....you can't stop me..haha. Anyway the manager gave me my money back but seemed a little rude about it kinda like I was lying because I had mistakenly left my purchases at home. Anyway I did get my 10.90 (got tax too) back. So all in all I spent a total of $14.39. Pretty darn good for 4 packs of diapers and 2 wipes (seeing how that and the 2 candy bars were all I actually paid for!) I normally use Luvs and can't buy 2 packs of them for that price! YAY ME!

Hoping for a good deal

I'm hoping I can head out to Walgreens in the morning to do the Huggies deal. We are almost completely out of wipes and this would be a great way to stock up on some. I'm thinking if I do 2 transactions I should be doing pretty good.
Transaction 1
2 natural fit diapers $20
1 gentle care wipes $6
TOTAL $26
-2 $3.00 natural fit Q
- 1 $5.00 gentle care Q
$15.00
I also have a 10.00 RR and a 3.50 RR so I'm thinking I will use the 10.00 on this one and save the 3.50 for a Dove deal in between the 2 Huggies deals
Transaction 2
4 dove soaps
4 dove trial size deo
get a 10.00 RR
-3.50 RR and a 1.50/2 dove Q should only have to pay a couple bucks on this one
Transaction 3
5 gentle care wipes $30.00
-3 $5.00 Q
15.00 - 10 RR from dove deal
$5.00 OOP
Let me know if these sound good to you or if you think I should change something around. Let me know how you do tomorrow!

I really do love them

My kids. I do. Honestly. But is there ever a day when I don't have to feel like all I'm ever doing is getting on to them? I mean I absolutely hate getting on to them. I sometimes feel like a horrible mother because I feel like that is ALL I ever do, punish my kids. I know they don't see it right now but it will be better for them in the future and hopefully me too, but seriously, how hard is it to do something the 1st time I ask and with NO attitude???? Does anyone have any suggestions?